Don't Imagine
by AlphaDemon
Summary: Whatever you do, don't imagine the akuma merging with Adrien's very brain. Don't imagine Chat begging Ladybug for help. Don't imagine Ladybug not using Lucky Charm. And whatever you do, absolutely do not imagine the cataclysm raised to his head.


**Hey! So I've recently joined the Miraculous Ladybug fandom and I'm so in love with the show. I saw a post on Tumblr and just had to write this one-shot.**

 **So, here goes.**

 **TRIGGER WARNING FOR DEATH/SUICIDE**

* * *

The boy leans against his bedroom door heavily. He won't cry over this; it's normal for him, he's used to it by now. He won't let weakness show—he won't let the dam break. His back slides down the door, he pulls his knees to his chest, and he rests his head on them. He won't cry, he won't cry, he won't cry.

So what is this salty liquid?

He scowls, using his hand to brush the tears from his green eyes. But they don't stop flowing, cascading down his cheeks, dripping onto his shirt and into his lap. A sob tears itself from his throat, and the next thing he knows he's bawling on his bedroom floor because his father decided for him that he's moving to America, that he's leaving all of his new-found friends. That he's leaving His Lady.

His head buried in his knees, he cries until his throat is dry and his eyes can weep no more. Many emotions course through him: anger, despair, hopelessness, rage. Pure, unrelenting rage at his father. Is it not enough for him that he controls his son's life? Must he destroy it, too?

The boy's head lifts as a voice speaks to him. It sounds as if it's coming from his brain, directly through his thoughts.

 _You can stay here, in Paris,_ it says. _I only require one thing in return._

The teen's blonde hair falls into his eyes as he murmurs, "No, I won't do it."

The voice grows impatient. _But you can stay here, where you belong! All you have to do is get me the Miraculous._

"No," the boy repeats. "I won't fall for it. I won't hurt innocent people to get what I want."

 _Fight it all you want,_ the voice says, _but you can't evade me forever._

The boy lifts his head. His green eyes flash behind Hawk Moth's symbol.

His eyes turn yellow.

* * *

She wasn't expecting a call, so when her kwami warns her of an incoming message, she transforms into Paris's famed superhero and answers it. Chat Noir pops up on her yo-yo's screen, and she tenses.

His once green eyes are yellow.

His once black mask is white.

"Lady—" he starts, but is abruptly cut short when he grabs his head in pain. When his eyes return to the screen, one is green.

"Ladybug," he says, "help me. . ."

She watches in horror as yellow seeps back into his once emerald-green eye.

* * *

Chat Noir moans from his place atop the Eiffel Tower. A battle rages inside his head—inside his very brain—between himself and the akuma.

Ladybug arrives to find her partner, her kitty, writhing in agony, clutching his head, pulling at his hair, one eye green again. To anyone else it would seem as if Chat were winning his fight with the akuma.

But Ladybug knows Chat. And she knows he's fighting a losing battle.

Yellow once again overtakes his irises at Ladybug's presence, and she is suddenly blocking a blow from Chat's now-gold baton. She jumps back, away, and throws her yo-yo at her partner. It connects, wrapping around his arms and immobilizing him.

Ladybug walks forward, her grip tight on her weapon. Her blue eyes search his for any sign of her partner.

"Chat?"

He snarls, a pink butterfly outline appearing around his masked eyes.

"I'll kill you!" he yells, struggling against his binds. "If I can't have you, no one will!"

"Chat! Snap out of it!" Ladybug cries, growing desperate. She doesn't want to hurt her partner and she doesn't know where the akuma is. Her only hope is that he can fight it off, make it release itself. "This isn't you, Chat! Fight it!"

He pauses in his attempts to free himself, and she nearly collapses with hope when she sees one scared, green eye.

"L-Ladybug," he whispers, and it takes all of her willpower not to hug him. "Please, save me. . ."

"I-I don't know where the akuma is," she nearly whimpers.

He looks at her then, and she feels her world come crashing down. He looks so helpless, so _broken and scared_ , that she doesn't know if she can go on. And then he speaks and it's like time stands still.

"It's in my brain."

She doesn't know what to do. She's panicking. Never before has she had to face an akuma without her partner, but for her partner to _be_ the akuma? She can't fathom winning this one, especially now that she knows that the akuma is in a place that is impossible to reach and break without killing him.

A sob rips itself from her throat.

Then, for a moment—one fleeting moment—both his eyes are green. He's still fighting. So she finds the strength within her to continue fighting too.

If kissing him broke the spell Dislocoeur put him in, then kissing him may help him fight the akuma, she decides.

In one swift movement she's pressed her lips to his. The kiss itself isn't long, but to the duo it feels like eternity.

When Ladybug pulls away Chat's eyes are so soft, so tender, so loving; so _green_. He gazes at her with such passion and caring she can't help but feel her heart melt.

"Ladybug," he says, quietly, "please, just end it."

"What?" Her eyes widen, searching his green orbs for the answer she's already assumed.

"Kill me," he says so softly she almost misses it. Her grip on her yo-yo slackens.

"I-I . . . I _can't_ ," she cries, cupping his face with her hand as tears fall down her cheeks.

His hand, now free, comes to rest over the hand she has caressing his cheek. He leans into her touch.

" _Please_."

He's crying now, too, and she knows he believes he will lose the fight, because why else would he ask her to do the impossible?

He smiles at her sadly, his eyes full of tears, and her weapon clatters on the tower.

Chat steps away from His Lady, still smiling a tear-filled smile, and says one word that stops her heart.

"Cataclysm."

The magic gathers in his open palm, white and gray instead of its usual black and purple. They both stare at it, Ladybug in horror and realization and Chat in desperation to make the pain end. He looks at her then, his eyes glassing over in yellow once more, and smiles in a way that breaks her heart.

"Je t'aime, My Lady," he says, and presses the cataclysm to his head.

Ladybug's cry pierces the air as she rushes forward to catch her kitty's falling body. Her legs buckle and she falls to her knees, and then sits on her haunches to cradle her broken partner in her lap. Her tears fall nonstop from her eyes, onto Chat's pale face, his closed eyes. She sobs and screams and wails for her partner to come back to her, knowing all the while that it's too late, that _she's_ too late.

The black butterfly leaves its host. Ladybug doesn't notice.

 _If only she'd used Lucky Charm. If only she'd believed there was a way to pure the akuma without damaging his brain. If only she had the lucky item, she could do Miraculous Cure and save her friend._

As she sobs, screaming for Chat to not leave her, a black creature exits the ring on his hand, and green light travels from his feet, up his body. His suit—now black—vanishes with the light, leaving the true identity of her partner for her to see.

At first she can't make out who it is through her blurry vision, but then her eyes widen as she recognizes his face.

"No!" she wails. "I can't lose both of you!" She pulls his head closer to her, bawling into his blonde hair, hugging his cold, still body. " _Adrien_!" she screams, over and over again.

The black butterfly lands on one of the ribbons that tie her hair into her trademark twin tails.

 _Such an unpleasant end, is it not? He doesn't deserve it; you don't deserve to lose him. I can bring him back. I will, if you only hand over the Miraculous._

She doesn't recognize the voice in her head, but she guesses it belongs to none other than Hawk Moth. She's tempted at first—this is a chance to bring back not only her partner, but her love, too—but she knows better. Hawk Moth, for one, is the source of her pain, her suffering, _Chat and Adrien's death_ , and she refuses to make a deal with the devil. That's not her only reason though.

Ladybug slowly unties the infected ribbon, letting her hair fall over her shoulder. She looks at it—the once bright red ribbon is now pitch black. Without any hesitation she rips it, again and again until only tiny pieces are left.

The butterfly flies out and she cures it.

Nothing, however, can be repaired—or revived— _because she didn't use Lucky Charm._

She gently lays Adrien's body down on the tower. Places a kiss on his forehead.

 _Why refuse to let this boy live?_

Hawk Moth's question hangs heavily in the air, and Ladybug rises shakily to her feet.

"Because he wouldn't want me to turn evil because of him."

* * *

 **You can find the original post at:**

imagine-miraculousladybug . tumblr post/136569821335/tw-deathsuicide-whatever-you-do-dont-imagine

 **(Remove the spaces before and after the periods.)**

 **I hope you liked it!**

 **-AlphaDemon**


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